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  • Making Room for Occasional Cheese Dip: A review of “A Confederacy of Dunces”
    Review

    Making Room for Occasional Cheese Dip: A review of “A Confederacy of Dunces”

    Montana Huston
    Oct 16, 2026

    A review of A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. Grove Press, 1994. I was first introduced to A Confederacy of…

  • The Tragedy of the Edmund Fitzgerald
    Review

    The Tragedy of the Edmund Fitzgerald

    Shaylie Muehl
    Oct 16, 2026

    A review of The Gales of November by John Bacon. Norton & Company, 2025. Everyone knows about the tragic sinking of the…

  • Taming the Tomboy: The “Old-Fashioned Girl” books of my childhood, and what they taught me about womanhood, femininity, and growing up
    All

    Taming the Tomboy: The “Old-Fashioned Girl” books of my childhood, and what they taught me about womanhood, femininity, and growing up

    Lydia Quattrochi
    Oct 9, 2026

    I went through my American Girl phase between fourth and fifth grade, and read through piles of the books. This obsession culminated…

  • What to Read if You Loved: Game of Thrones
    Feature

    What to Read if You Loved: Game of Thrones

    Kishi Blue
    Oct 7, 2026

    It’s a canon event for all readers: you start a show not thinking much of it, end up binging it all the…

  • A Worthy Sequel or Just A Cash Grab?
    Review

    A Worthy Sequel or Just A Cash Grab?

    Shaylie Muehl
    Oct 5, 2026

    A review of The Housemaid’s Secret, by Freida McFadden. Bookouture, 2023. I broke one of the core values of book reviewing and…

  • The Duality of Humanity in East of Eden
    Review

    The Duality of Humanity in East of Eden

    Shaylie Muehl
    Oct 2, 2026

    A review of East of Eden, by John Steinbeck. Penguin Books, 1952. John Steinbeck is a household name for a reason. He…

  • Goblets, Daggers, and Jousts – My First Time at a Renaissance Festival
    Feature

    Goblets, Daggers, and Jousts – My First Time at a Renaissance Festival

    Cecilia Garcia
    Sep 30, 2026

    I grew up enamored by fantasy worlds. Film, books, and even music would often take me on all sorts of adventures by…

  • Forrest Frank’s Concert Brings Spirit to the Stage in St. Louis
    Feature, Review

    Forrest Frank’s Concert Brings Spirit to the Stage in St. Louis

    Kimberlee Ford
    Sep 28, 2026

    A review of Forrest Frank’s “The Jesus Generation” concert on July 25th, 2026, St. Louis, Missouri On July 25th, my mom, brother…

  • Honing Confidence in Writing-My Experience With ENG 382
    Feature

    Honing Confidence in Writing-My Experience With ENG 382

    Shaylie Muehl
    Sep 25, 2026

    From a young age I always liked to read. I did the reading contests every summer at my local library, read at…

  • Guysha Guy’s “The Persistence of Memory”
    Feature, Student Life

    Guysha Guy’s “The Persistence of Memory”

    Guysha Guy
    Sep 23, 2026

    This piece was written in April of 2026 Memory sometimes feels like a melting clock. We remember, but from time to time,…

  • Constraint and Clarity: Writing Poetry Within a Moving Medium
    Feature

    Constraint and Clarity: Writing Poetry Within a Moving Medium

    Daniel Baugh
    Sep 21, 2026

    In the later part of 2022, I found myself living just outside the Quad Cities in Illinois, coping with the aftermath of…

  • Shared Inquiry: The 2026 EGO Colloquium
    Feature

    Shared Inquiry: The 2026 EGO Colloquium

    Daniel Baugh
    Sep 18, 2026

    On Saturday, March 28, 2026, the WIU English Graduate Organization (EGO) hosted its annual colloquium, inviting graduate and undergraduate students to share…

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The Mirror & the Lamp


The Mirror & the Lamp, since our first publication in 2014, has always been managed by a small team of passionate and dedicated English students. These students, with varying backgrounds and identities, hold one goal in mind for The Mirror & the Lamp; to document the lives and experiences of those involved with the English Department here at Western Illinois University. Our non-fiction features writing style highlights the individuality of our authors, setting The Mirror and the Lamp apart from the strictly journalistic style of Western’s student-run newspaper, the Western Courier, and the focus on creative works in Western’s literary magazine, Elements. See our WIU webpage at The Mirror and the Lamp for more information.

 1 University Cir, Macomb, IL 61455

Latest Articles

  • Making Room for Occasional Cheese Dip: A review of “A Confederacy of Dunces”

    Making Room for Occasional Cheese Dip: A review of “A Confederacy of Dunces”

    Oct 16, 2026
  • The Tragedy of the Edmund Fitzgerald

    The Tragedy of the Edmund Fitzgerald

    Oct 16, 2026
  • Taming the Tomboy: The “Old-Fashioned Girl” books of my childhood, and what they taught me about womanhood, femininity, and growing up

    Taming the Tomboy: The “Old-Fashioned Girl” books of my childhood, and what they taught me about womanhood, femininity, and growing up

    Oct 9, 2026

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